


I'm sorry I can't see right...

by FeliciaParker



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers Family, Domestic Avengers, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Misunderstandings, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Platonic Soulmates, Protective Tony Stark, Romantic Soulmates, Sensory Overload, Soulmates - Red Ribbon, Team as Family, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, he's still learning how to parent you guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25834282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaParker/pseuds/FeliciaParker
Summary: It's ironic that the only one who could see Soulmate string's, was the only one who didn't have any to begin with...
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 169





	1. Soulmates

Soulmates.

_ Yikes _ . Talking about soulmates has always been a difficult topic. Unless you were talking with close friends or family members, it was best to just avoid this topic. It was like trying to talk politics in the work place: a bad fucking idea.

Some people believed in them, while others didn’t. Those who did weren’t to be considered ‘smarter’, but they were more understood and accepting to the topic views. It was like the idea of religions. It was for the most part proven, but still disliked for its aspects. There were classes on it, and even a few laws that extended to help those with crimes done on their soulmates. It was widely viewed as real and a beautiful gift bestowed on the universe.

Those who didn’t believe in soulmates were either raised in the belief, or had come to this conclusion by harsh situations or conspiracy theories. But there was never any solid proof that could be used to refute it. One would think it the opposite, but it was undeniable.

Soulmates were real.

Now, many came up with outlandish ideas on how it all started; there were nearly a hundred different fairy tales over how it had all begun. But at the end of the day, there was the written in stone facts: You and your soulmate were tied together by a red ribbon.

If your soulmate wasn’t born yet, your ribbon would be connected to the stomach of their mother or grandmother, or whoever was alive presently. If they were passed away, your ribbon would drag and always connect to the ground. If all was well though, normally, your strings would be connected by your fingers.

No fingers? Then your arm. Nor arm? Then your chest. No chest? You were most likely dead, so no need to worry about it!

Some people had more than one string, but in that case, the extra strings would be platonic. This was usually the case when there was an age difference, or when someone was connected to a family member or close friend. You weren’t forced to be with your soulmate, though your heart, soul, body and all would be most drawn to them, so you never really ended up with anyone else. You could end up with someone of the same gender, which had become more common come the 21st century, and had become legally allowed and regarded sometime in the 16th.

The slight hiccup? No one could see the ribbons and strings… Yeah, that had been a problem…

As it turns out, other planets had discovered their own ways to see their ribbons, while some had the power to see them all along(or so they had gathered to believe). On earth, humans had known of them since the dawn of time, but had only witnessed them on a few occasions. Sometimes, some people could see them in their dreams, and just as they were waking. When you closed your eyes long enough and focused them quickly upon opening, you could see the red line leading to the one you would be with. Come the 1940’s, humans had finally created a device to see soulmate strings. However, due to limited resources, and the destruction of knowledge on how to rebuild the equipment; the technology was lost by the 90’s.

People could still feel their soulmate strings, and they could still figure out who their soulmate was by the bond they shared, but they couldn’t be 100% certain. No one could see the strings, right?

...Wrong.

Peter could see them.

At first, he hadn’t paid it much attention, but as he grew up and learned about them, he found them interesting. He didn’t realize he was the only one who could see them until he was six years old though. May had been finishing reading him a story while Ben had tucked him in. He had thought to not bother them with such a silly question until morning, but he couldn’t get it out of his mind.

“Auntie May?”

“Hmm? What is it Pete?”

“Why do you and Uncle Ben have that red string on your fingers?”

Both adults had smiled softly at him, finding it was time to finally tell him one of the few hundred stories, when his words clicked in their minds. May had been the first to notice his phrasing, and interrupted Ben before he could go off on a tale of some princess and a knight. “What do you mean, Peter? What red string are you talking about?”

Ben seemed to catch on finally and frowned as well, looking to his hands as if to find some random piece of cloth caught on his wedding ring.

“Well, you guys always have that red string on your fingers, and it's super stretchy, ‘cuz you’re able to be real close and super far away, but it doesn’t snap! Mommy and Daddy had one too, and lots of other people have them also!” He looked to them with a wide grin, seeming to find their confusion funny, as if they were playing a game with him.

They weren’t.

After a brief talk, they decided to take him to the doctor the next morning. Doctor Gibeon had listened to Peter explain, and had simply decided his eyesight was messing with him, and that he must have been messed with from school, having been told stories too soon and thus came up with the idea of connecting people in his mind. Ben had readily accepted the notion, but May had merely nodded along and pretended to listen. She was the only one to believe in Peter.

Come the next year, Peter had learned to keep this gift to himself and May. Whenever it was brought up, Ben would get in a mood, and would often lose his temper. One night, Peter had complained of others in his class all being soulmates and how the red strings blocked his view of the chalkboard, and May had laughed at his situation while Ben grew red with wrath. The following argument had been intense, and the end result had been rather emotional for them all. That was the first and last night that Ben had ever hit Peter, and it had been one of the few that May had absolutely lost it on her husband.

Peter and May agreed to keep their beliefs to themselves.

After Ben passed on and they had finally gotten into a sense of normalcy, it would be a common conversation. May was always interested in his stories, and loved to laugh at his frustrations on not getting to just point out at people who passed each other on the streets. She accepted him.

However, he didn’t tell her of how it had changed.

When Peter had gotten his powers, it had been an overload on his senses for nearly two weeks. It had caused him to not understand the situation when Ben got shot, and it made him a wreck while he was grieving. However, after it had finally settled on his body, his eyesight had been fully healed.

And he saw them everywhere.

Before, they would be every now and then strings of light in his vision. He could see them when he focused enough, or even when he was completely zoned out. If he was touching someone, he could see them as if they were a part of someone's shirt. He found relief in wearing glasses, as even though they blurred his vision somewhat, they also made it impossible for him to see the strings.

But now? He saw the soulmate strings no matter what. He couldn’t block them out. So long as you were within a 50 meter radius of him, he could see the ribbon attached to your finger.

He found it like a cruel joke, as Spiders made little strings, and now he couldn’t stop seeing them. Very funny, Universe...

When May learned his identity, he told her of his dilemma, and she had calmed from her worried yelling to comfort him instead. While at times it was nice to see the strings, she knew how burdensome it could be for him. She also knew how much it hurt his heart.

After all, he didn’t have a soulmate sting to begin with.


	2. Tell us the problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I need to explain this first:
> 
> Peter Parker is stronger then the Avengers...combined.
> 
> Thor and Hulk can lift up to about 100-150 tons, and are the strongest Avengers. Spider-Man? 100-300 tons. I did my research and I’m proud.

Meeting the Avengers had been like a dream come true to Peter. They were as much his heroes as they were to others, even if he was one himself. They had all been excited to be introduced to Spiderman upon the accords being rectified, as they all recalled his doing well in Berlin, and they had asked Tony on meeting him soon upon their return.

Of course, finding out he was a teenager had been somewhat of a problem to a majority of them, but then- Steve had interrupted their arguing with full blown laughter. Despite all of their beliefs, Steve was completely on board with Peter becoming like them. If anything, the man was more into the idea then even Tony.

Bucky had explained that Steve was just barely 15 years old when he tried to apply to the army, and had been caught a handful of times trying to sneak on to one of the army trucks to get on the bases. If Steve tried to speak against Peter becoming a hero, then he’d be the biggest hypocrite of them all.

Ever since the Avengers got back together, Peter was over at the tower almost as much as he was at home(which worked well when pre-scheduled on days while May was still working). Sometimes he would be there to help Tony in his lab, or he would once in a while assist Bruce(he had freaked out upon meeting the man, and Banner himself had almost started crying in his joy when he asked him to autograph some of his thesis works). When he wasn’t there with the good excuse of work, then there was the other good excuse of training. Natasha was the one who had called dibs on teaching him hand-to-hand combat, while Bucky called dibs on teaching him how to use weapons in a non-lethal way(they all relenteed to non-lethal when Peter made it a point that he wouldn’t carry weapons or kill anyone). Otherwise, whenever they called Peter over to the tower or compound, it was mostly just to hang out.

Like tonight.

May had a night shift for the rest of the week, so Peter would be spending the nights at the tower. Cool, right? Yeah...for a bit…

They were all having dinner on the first night when it had been brought up. Peter had been enjoying exchanging chemical mixture equations with Bruce, when Clint brought up his soulmate string. The Bucky had teased Steve on having been a sucker once for the idea of meeting his soulmate. Tony then joined in by saying he had paid a few million once to find his when he was younger, to which his dad fainted at the bill.

Of course, Peter knew this would eventually happen. After all, the Avengers were basically family as it was, so how could he not expect this at some point? Peter hid back a groan at the topic. He knew it would have been brought up eventually, especially since it seems they’ve conversed about it before, but he wished it hadn’t occurred on a day he was present. Usually, adults avoided talking about soulmates around children, as it was somewhat as awkward as having the Birds and the Bees talk. Apparently, the Avengers found it otherwise…

Using his long lost skill of being quiet and blending in enough to be considered invisible, Peter shrunk slightly in his seat and continued eating his food, hoping his old talent of being a wallflower would keep him ignored from the conversation. Perhaps if they did notice his silence, they would get the hint to not ask his opinion.

His hope was squashed.

Of course Tony was the one who brought him to the spotlight. “What about you, Pete? Found the lucky person yet?”

Peter didn’t hold back on the slight annoyance in his sigh, “No, and I don’t expect to any time soon.”  
  


It was most likely the slight attitude in his voice that gave away how serious his words were, as they diddn’t look over it as a simple teenager thing for being disgusted with being in love. Clint was the first to raise a brow and comment, “You good there, kiddo? It’s fine if you don’t believe in the strings, you know? Bruce over there is half and half with it.”

Bruce shrugged, “I do believe in them, I just have a hard time coming to mind with the fact we have invisible strings that have destined us to a specific person, before we were even born.” Despite this, Peter swallowed down his want to tell the man he was tied to the redhead beside him. Peter had already guessed that Natasha wasn’t big on soulmate strings, and he knew from reading some of the Banners old thesis’ that he didn’t find much of it due to the lack of science. The moment Peter had seen Natasha and Bruce in the same room for the first time, he had choked on his soda when he saw the string of red between their hands. That had definitely been a surprising pair to him.

“Trust me, I believe in them.” Hard not to when they blocked most of his sight every waking minute. “I just dont like talking about mine is all…” He was happy to see that they all got the message to drop it with him. However…

As soon as Peter called it a night and was the first to head off to bed, the rest all jumped straight back into the conversation. “Why do you think he dislikes talking about the stings of love?” Thor was perplexed by the notion of disliking the idea of a soulmate. On Asgard, it was a great honor and joy to find your soulmate.

Steve shrugged and started to collect all the finished plates, bringing them into the kitchen. “Not a lot of people like it is all. Pete must not like the idea of fate deciding for him.”

Bucky shook his head, “Nah, I think its more then that. The kid looked like he had some vendetta against the notion. Maybe he met his soulmate and doesn’t like ‘em.” The man cursed as Clint rushed ahead to choose the movie they would be watching.

Natasha rolled her eyes and walked over to the couch, swatting at the back of Clint's head as he started to replay Hunger Games for the seventh time that month. “I think its more serious then that. Do teenagers even put forth the effort to find their soulmates?”

Tony nodded, “Hell yeah. Knowing Peter the best, the kid is definitely the type to do it also. Bucky might be close though. I know the kid liked some girl and asked her out to Homecoming before, but I guess things didn’t work out well. Maybe he wanted someone to be his soulmate but it was someone else?”

Sam shook his head sadly as he thought of something, “Or something bad could have happened to them. I know some of the guys I used to listen to in the army had joined in after losing a soulmate young, and some lost them in the thick of it all.”

Bruce waved it all off, “Well it’s none of our business, alright? Peter says he doesn’t like talking about it, so we should respect that and leave it be.” There was a silence as they all(begrudgingly) nodded. The silence was kept as they started the movie, up until Katniss had volunteered in her sisters place. Bruce closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he was hit with a sudden realization. “You’re all going to get involved, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Definitely?”

“Is that even a question?”

“Of course we are.”

“Don’t pretend we’re not dragging you into this with us, Brucie!”

* * *

  
  


Peter did’t know what to expect when he got up the next morning. Like any normal person, he thought it would be an average day as he got dressed and prepared for school. However, he seemed to forget for once that he was in fact, ‘not normal’. When he entered the commons room to eat a quick breakfast, he was met with the entire team, all ready and prepared for a big day… Shit.

Peter huffed and dropped his backpack onto the ground, giving all the others a slight jumpscare at his presence as the bag made a large thunk onto the floor. “You’re all not letting me go to school today, are you?”

Tony snorted as he and Clint walked over, him coming to give a side hug as the other curiously tried to lift the backpack up, only for it to not even budge off the ground. “Well good morning to you too, Sunflower! How’d you guess?”

Peter sighed, “You aren’t ever all ready and dressed and packed for a day out unless it’s a group thing planned, and that usually means you all decide to pull me out of school for me to join in. So, what is more important then my education for the day?”

Clint frowned and waved Steve and Bucky over, having both of them try to lift the bag. Bucky tried with his normal arm at first, almost falling over as he gave a sharp tug, only for it to pull back as it didn’t budge off the ground. Steve frowned as Clint laughed a bit. Bucky then tried to lift with his metal arm as well, but it didn’t pick up, only scooching over a centimeter or two in his direction. Bucky grumbled as he motioned for Steve to give it a try.

Tony clasped Peter on the back, “Well, we all were talking last night, while Clint forced us through Hunger Games again, that we wanted to know what it’s like more out there on the streets, you know? And who better to introduce us to the lives of the little guys, then the guy who looks after them all most, huh?”

Peter narrowed his eyes as he tried to think through this, “You mean… you guys want to get in on my territory?”

Natasha and Sam frowned as they looked over to Steve, who let out a small “shit” as his feet slipped at his failing to pick up Peter's bag. The man at least got it a centimeter off the ground, but his legs wobbled way too much and he fell down with it. Peter continued to pay them no mind as Tony looked to him in slight confusion. “‘Territory’? You realize you’re talking about the whole of Queens and Manhattan, right? I don’t think you can really call it just yours.”

Peter nodded his head, “I can. Hell’s Kitchen is Daredevils moreso, and Luke Cage lets me clear things up for him once in a while in Harlem; but for the most part, I’m the main vigilante looking over it all. While it’s nice of you to kinda offer help, I’m gonna have to tell you guys to back off my turf. You guys can help with alien stuff and a few big mutants or two, but I’m the main one people look to when it comes to looking out for the little guy.”

Wanda huffed a bit as she struggled in using her magic to lift the backpack off the ground, “P-peter, just la-last week you had stopped a Maggia turf war from taking over Chinatown and Greenwich, and then you next stopped a rampaging rhino-man. I do- oh god this is harder then it looks… I don’t think your patrols are just petty theft and stuff-! Gah!” She dropped the bag after floating it a few inches up for nearly a minute, the others giving her a small applause as she dropped it, making another large bang on the floor as she tried to catch her breath.

Peter scoffed a bit, “Of course it’s more then that! You have no idea the crazy shit I have to deal with on a daily and nightly basis.” He ignored when Steve sent him a pointed look. Tony wrapped an arm around him again and pulled him in with a wide grin.

“That’s why we want to learn! Show us the ropes, kiddo. We won’t take up your fun, we just wanna see what you get up to is all. Learn what it’s like for old Spidey while he’s watching out for his people.” They both turned around with raised brows when Thor let out a series of curses, some of them switching to another language as he dropped Peter’s bag off his shoulder. The others had gaped at the ground, as the place where Peter had initially dropped it now had large cracks in the floor. Thor had managed to pick the bag up after some tough tugs, but it nearly dislocated his shoulder when he tried to put it on.

Tony huffed, “What are you all doing? Leave the kids bag alone.”

Bruce frowned and unzipped it to peak inside, “Peter, what on earth do you even carry in this thing, and how the heck hasn’t it ripped open from the weight?” He was met with an eyeful of metal balls, all with scribbled on numbers. Peter shrugged as he zipped up the bag and picked it up with scary ease. He tossed it over his shoulder and carried it with three fingers as he gave them all a rather bored look, while a majority looked horrified.

“I’m testing out some of the weights Mr. Stark and I made for our training. He told me I could take some home to use there, so…”

Tony seemed to finally dawn on what the others had been doing, and he gaped slightly in horror. “I didn’t mean carry them all at once?! How the hell are you holding all that?! Peter, a single one of those balls is about 10 tons! How many are you carrying?!”

“Pfft. I don’t know… 13 or 14, give or take?”

It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, before Tony sighed and rubbed his temples. “We should have just called you out of school after a few hours. It’s too early to take in new and most likely vitally important information…”


End file.
